Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Melody is one in a million...I'd gone out to the auction down by the old junk pile, and full of plans for the things I'd seen and plan to bid on, I hurried home to make a cup of hot orange pekoe tea. It was raining dreadfully as the saying goes although I didn't mind it one little bit. I've been planning to set up my Christmas tree~~a table top one this year. I was going to read my new poetry book--well, new old because I got it at a used bookstore and really it is new to me but is an old book. The paper is laid and the edges are sort of ruffley. The kettle started to whistle and the cookies were set out on the plate and the tree was dressed~~well actually it was bare because I put the tree on a silver platter and had the glass balls all around it on the platter and then once I put up the star on top I decided that I liked the green of the tree so I am just going to enjoy it that way. I poured the hot water into the teapot and set it out to steep. I gathered my new old poetry book and plate of cookies and sugar and cream and was just about to settle in to a good read when the doorbell rang.It was Melody. Merci's younger sister. In her hand she held a wee bundle of the bluest of blue posies that you have ever set eyes on. The blue of the flower heads were set off by the very dark green of the stem and leaves. I've never seen flowers quite like these. She'd wrapped them in a white linen handkerchief trimmed with a delicate border of crochet edging. You just wouldn't believe that on a rainy cold day in November in the forest, that there could be such a wonderful thing. I held them up to my cheek. The smell! Oh my gosh they were something else. I pulled Melody in out of the cold and into the hallway and insisted that she stay and have a cup of Orange Pekoe tea and cookies. She took off her galoshes and rainhat and sat down smiling to join me.Apparently she'd been out on an errand and had passed by the village church. In the yard she noticed the blue and went to investigate. The gardener had just been to the greenhouses and had brought back these plants to edge the walkway. When she admired them he gave her a little bunch. And while she went about her errands she decided to give them to me. She was just going to leave them by my door she said but then noticed that the light was on so gave a knock. We shared a few cups of tea while we admired the posies and read poetry. I think Melody is about as nice a friend as anyone could ever have.Ta!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Yesterday brought a birthday party to remember! Not just because I was surrounded by my beloved family, but mostly because of the cake that I baked. A chocolate cheesecake. My first. I hate cheesecake. But for the 50 and then some years that I've hated it I've known all along that really, I was missing something. And I'd say to people "I hate cheesecake but I know I'm missing out on something." So I've been nibbling here and there throughout the past 40 years or so since I tasted my first bite, and slowly but slowly I've honed my taste and learned what works for me...BAKED...high quality ingredients...none of the low-fat stuff...flavored with quality ingredients...real booze...or real fruit...for sure real chocolate. I owed my daughter http://www.JenniferConway.blogspot.com/ a home baked cake for her birthday which was this past August, and so I took the plunge. Made it, ate it, and loved it! Photos were taken but it's a visual that is just a round brown thing with cracks (my learning curve) on the top. Believe me it was a thing of beauty. My daughter loved it and I loved it and the kids were over the moon.This day in the forest will bring a day of discovery. I'm going to haul out my papier mache making equipment--mostly a bunch of old stainless steel pots, wooden spoons, old disgarded blenders, strainers et.al. I'm wanting to make faces--molded and then painted. I've been dreaming of these faces! We shall see what transpired...Ta!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Getting the facts straightI'm slowly putting the correct language on the blogs so that they will link.Surely I am not the only computer challenged soul in this world! Bear with me.I've been pouring through magazines to see the seasonal decor and current craft delights. There's just nothing like the photos in mags. to get me all excited and inspired. I choose extra long lines at the grocery checkout so I can look, look, look at page after page of visual wonderful. I have so many ideas to try out and hopefully will be able to get to some of them.But first there is that birthday cake to be made!The forest is a happy place today. I see lots of activity as I look through the window. Lots of leaf raking; though I do see children running and jumping on the piles. I see the mail delivery bird just over the next mound, and even a full line of clothes hanging outside on this November day in the Kingdom. Ta!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Apologies offered...Blog no. 3 seems to have run into a technology snag. I will try to figure it out but I am a slow study when it comes to the computer and it's wonders.Apparently my links to blogs aren't activated.All is well over here in the forest. Today is a day for clearing out decayed leaves and starting a compost. The fucshia has begun a second bloom for the season as it's been so warm and wet lately. But as the evenings are getting towards the freezing point, it is time to dismantle the garden fountain and turn it upside down. So there'll be lots of activity in the yard this day. I plan to spend some time concentrating on the computer snag.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Oh what fun it is to...Open the door and find at the stoop a complete little papier mache sparkly village all set up with old browned snow batt as the base background and little bottle brush trees around! Merci has been at it again. She's always up for a fun surprise. I just know this is her handiwork at play. Guess she's all fired up and inspired by the season's playthings when her beetle friend gave her a decoration that she'd made. Well I am going to set up this little village on my west facing window and add to it from time to time. Meanwhile I'm going to search out my glittery stuff for the season's celebration.Guess what I found! Some of my decorations that I'd made a few years ago. I found only one box and I know there's more somewhere around here; and, IF I properly get the camera/technology to work for me I will upload some photos for you. Ta!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Well I was just finishing up the breakfast dishes when a knock came at my door. It was Merci. You haven't met her yet. She's the oldest sister in the very large mouse family who live next door to Mrs. Beetle and her family. She'd been visiting Belinda (they are fast friends) and was shown the growing collection of German scrap Victorian children decorations that are being made in the living room at the Beetle family homestead. Belinda kindly gave one to Merci although they are meant to be given out at the annual party. So I've seen what they are going to look like. If I can figure out the camera bug I'll hopefully be able to take a snap to show you!Until then...let me say that there's REAL gold leaf stars on the crepe skirts. Well I must get back to the household duties. Tea with Merci turned out to be a real gab fest! Ta.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Poetry reading...Mrs. Beetle sat reading the war letter and felt very heavy indeed. The icing was drying on the cookies that she'd planned to feed her family for breakfast that day. As she carefully folded the letter and was about to place it back to its' spot in the sewing box she noticed the corner of a lovely colored bit of paper poking through the seambinding bundle. She teased it out and read:

To every natural form, rock, fruit, or flower, Even the loose stones that cover the highway, I gave a mortal life: I saw them feel Or linked them to some feeling; the great mass Lay bedded in some quickening soul, and all That I beheld respired with inward meaning. William Wordsworth "The Prelude"

Mrs. Beetle thought that she'd love to meet this Wordsworth fellow one day.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

I hold you in my heart thinking of you and your loved ones who all went through hell so that we all may have peace and the freedom to enjoy a bit of heaven on earth. Thank you. Oh!...just a minute...Belinda's mom has just now knocked at my door...

Mrs. Beetle it seems, ran out of icing sugar. She needed 'just a cuppa' she said. This morning Belinda's mom planned on a special family breakfast. As usual, she'll serve her favorite chai tea~~nice and hot with warmed milk and a spoon of honey to sweeten it with. Last night during the small hours during a rain storm in the forest, she made a batch of sugar cookies. It was the most favorite thing that she could think of to do. Now, before her family arose, she needed to ice them. PINK!When she was done, and before the family had risen, she went to the sewing box which amongst the thimbles (there were 3!), bobbins, thread, unknown measuring gadgets and all, were tucked well-worn, well-read letters. The sewing box had come into her life by a miracle she thought. But that is another story... She pulled one out and carefully laid it flat on the table so that she could read it. It began...

Camp Greenleaf Nov. 10 1918

Dear Tate, I was transferred to Evacuation Hospital 45 a short time ago and have received the complete overseas equipment but do not think we will see the other side although we stand an excellent chance for all the men in the company...

Saturday, November 10, 2007

a gal who learned that one must take time to do things with thought...with respect...with presence. I began a blog. I was excited. My fingers flew~~so fast that I couldn't figure out my correct password as I attempted to post the second time, and the blog host couldn't either; so I started another blog but couldn't use the spelling of the blog that I lost. So I spelled my name differently and my fingers began to fly. But gee I just never settled in to a different spelling. It was NOT me. So my fingers fell silent. Then my camera gave me grief. So I couldn't take pictures for the blog. Then my scanner blew up so I couldn't scan pictures for the blog. The blog withered on the vine. Months have passed. I think of you out there. All I have for you is words. But the blog was spelled wrong and was NOT me. My voice was silenced. But in the silence while the world we live in turned and turned in the quiet of space...an idea came to me...that is THIS blog. The real me~~my real name that is. The idea was to let you all meet the real me. The Queen who lives in a Kingdom in the deep of a forest in a community where so much life goes on. So I thoughtfully and carefully typed in the data while I set up this blog online. I typed the data on to file cards using my old best friend~~a Smith-Corona portable manual typewriter. The data is right here in front of me on a file card in an old metal file card holder and now I can contact you any time I wish (if I forget a password or anything like that.) And while I have a sketchy camera that isn't working presently; and while my scanner blew up so isn't working at all; I have words.

It rains in the forest. Beetles scurry to the corner store before it closes for the night. They are making german scrap Victorian children with tinsel and glitter adornment and have run out of glue. Their holiday decorations will spiff up their home in a grand manner. They will have an annual open house and invite the whole community to come for friendship, esprit de corps, fruitcake (their favorite) and maybe a wee glass of sherry. There'll be plenty of non-alcoholic drinks to choose from as well. Apple cider is always a crowd pleaser. Well time for Belinda to get going. It's starting to bluster out there...ta!

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